Page 36 of Breaking the Sinner

“She wasn’t a pet. My parents didn’t want us to name her.” Gen focused on mixing the carrot strips into the pan. “We ate Bunny for dinner one night.”

Cobra laughed incredulously. “Wow. That’s hardcore.”

“It was part of survival. You know, if the apocalypse came or whatever.”

Gen hadn’t wanted to eat Bunny. Gen had never wanted to spend her weekends running through preparatory drills in case of a nuclear event. She had never wanted to hear the rumble of an airliner overhead and think that it might finally be Jesus returning to claim the faithful.

Growing up, her mother and father had always stressed the sinful nature of the outside world. Why that meant they should remain isolated in their county. But they’d never let on to the fact that the differences stretched like a canyon. It wasn’t until the car crash that she could see that the differences weren’t just many, they were infinite.

“Oh, shit. The apocalypse. Did you have a…what is it called? The things you live in underground?”

She cleared her throat. “A bunker? Three.” Gen reached for the sauce, unsure how much information might be too much. How much might make him run away.

His eyes glazed over, nodding as he stared at the stir fry. “All right then.”

Sophie had been crystal clear at the beginning: part of deprogramming meant realizing the small ways in which everyone had grown up differently. Nobody else had bunkers. Nobody else thought it was wrong for women to go to college. Nobody else thought kissing someone before marriage was the same as signing your life away to become a prostitute.

The more Gen integrated into life outside her community, the more she realized how tightly wound she’d been.

Even so, there were some nights she missed the ritual of slipping out of bed late at night and following that tired route through the darkness to the primary bunker. There was a security there, an unshakable knowing that her sisters were waiting on the other side of the inky late-night wall.

Here in LA, nobody waited for her on the other side. She couldn’t grope her way to a home under the earth anymore. And for however much she’d grown tired of life back home, she wasn’t sure she could make it in this strange, new world. Not for long, at least.

“Do you think I’m weird?” The question came out softly.

Cobra didn’t say anything at first, but then he shook his head. “Nah. Well maybe, yeah. But in a good way.”

He nudged her with his elbow, his eyes sparkling more now that the bloodshot look had faded. Sometimes when he smiled at her, every inch of his face smiled. Like the skin itself had tiny smiles. It didn’t make sense how much she wanted to look at him. Absorb every facet of his features.

Gen jerked her gaze away, focusing on adding the stir-fry sauce. “Were you going to actually call me if I hadn’t called you?”

A different type of silence filled the kitchen. Cobra ran his forearm over his face. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “Sophie thinks you weren’t gonna call.”

Cobra worked his jaw back and forth. “I don’t call people that much.”

She gnawed on the inside of her mouth, pushing vegetables around in the dark brown sauce. “So, she was right?”

Cobra leaned against the countertop beside the stove, locking eyes with her in a way that made her gulp. Shadows flitted behind his eyes, promising things she’d never even thought of. The church had wanted her humble and meek. Now that she was out, she swore to be loud and inquisitive. To try it on for size.

“No. I woulda called.” He reached out, snagged her hand between his thumb and forefinger. He ran the pad of his thumb over her palm lightly, causing that same dangerous spark in her core. “I wouldn’t have been able to stay away.”

So many things didn’t make sense to her. Why would he want to stay away if those kisses were involved? Why did men ghost? Was sex even worth all this? She stopped stirring as he ran his thumb in a slow circle over the palm of her hand, his umber gaze holding her hostage.

“Are you messing around with other girls too?”

His gaze didn’t falter, but he didn’t say anything. He just jerked his head. A silentno.

“We didn’t talk about that.” The words flew out of her mouth, assured and confident, even though her heart hammered against her ribs. This new side of her was refreshing but also foreign. “I don’t want to do this if you’re going to…bewith anyone else.”

“I already told you. You’re mine for three months.”

All the confusion dissolved. She snapped off the stove, bolstering herself to ask the question that burned at the back of her throat.

“So when are you gonna kiss me again?”

His throaty chuckle rippled through her like a warning. His gaze darted out to the living room, where Sophie had just left. He reached out and caught the side of her waist without looking her way, as if he could snag her there in his sleep, from across the room, without even trying.

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